Most modern electronic devices include one or more electronic components, each component having one or more semiconductor chips, and each chip having one or more integrated circuits (ICs) manufactured thereon. Typically, a chip is mounted on a substrate and then encapsulated by a package that serves, among other things, to physically protect the chip. Within the electronic component, a chip may be coupled to other internal elements, such as, for example, other chip(s), using a chip interconnect structure or the like.
Wire bonding is popular type of chip interconnect method. In wire bonding, a chip may be secured to the surface of a substrate such that the chip is surrounded by contact pads on the substrate. Thin wires may then connect contacts on the chip to contact pads on the substrate. Wire bonds may also connect a chip's contacts to another chip's contacts within the same package.